The Life We Always Wanted
by cockysalvatoresweetscott23
Summary: After things had finally started settling down, they had decided to give it another shot, try to be a real family. No one expected what was to come to happen, can they survive this as a family or will it tear them apart more than they thought possible.
1. Prologue

_Hey y'all, so I seemed to get some really good feedback off my Neal and Emma one shot. So with this I am going to be making a chapter story. I love feed back and all your concerns and ideas on where you think the characters should go, I have a general idea on where I want this story to go but I will always take into consideration other idea to help this story get to the end. Thank you all in advance for the follow support. -Dee_

**Summary: After things had finally started settling down, they had decided to give it another shot, try to be a real family. No one expected what was to come to happen, can they survive this as a family or will it tear them apart more than they thought possible.**

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**Preface**

She couldn't breathe, as she sat there in a daze, lost between the thoughts rushing through her mind and what was actually happening, she just couldn't breathe.

She could feel him beside her but couldn't seem to focus on any one single thing.

Hearing something she tried to turn and regain focus but nothing happened when she tried to move. The sounds she was hearing were just coming to her as discrete muffled sounds and she couldn't make out whether they were words coming from people or just normal sounds of everyday living.

Once again she tried to move and found not abide in the attempt.

Next thing she knew she was over come with a feeling of falling, still unable to move she just squeezed her already closed eyes tighter and let the falling feel take over her body.

She fell for what seemed like minutes but was only really a few seconds before she felt completely at ease and almost peaceful.

She let her eyes flutter open and all she saw around her was a beautiful field of grass filled with lilies and roses, and off to the side by a big tree was her son, flipping threw the pages of a book she recognized all too well.

She made her way towards him and sat down next to him and smiled at the little boy she loved so much. To keep the mood light she asked him, "What are you looking at, Henry?"

She watched him as his face turned up and looked at her, she could see the hurt in his eyes and couldn't understand why it was there.

She reached out and placed her hand on his and squeezed it, "Henry?" She said his name, this time with concern evident in her voice.

He looked into her eyes and a tear slowly fell from his eye and he said to her, "We need you. We need to make our own stories for the book. You can't leave us Mom, we all need you." He said to her as more tears came streaming down his cheeks.

She couldn't for the life of her understand what he was talking about, but knew she wasn't going to leave her son, he meant everything to her and more. She brought her arms up and wrapped them around his small body and hugged him tight and kissed the top of his head. "I'm not going anywhere kid. I'm right here with you, always."

After a few minutes of the hug they pulled apart and he looked up at her and looked straight into her eyes, "Just please come back to us." He said to her as she looked right back at him.

Just then he disappeared and she didn't understand how or why. She stood up fast and started looking around for him and yelling his name.

Just as she was rounding the tree she felt dizzy and grabbed onto the tree to balance herself. Not soon enough though as she fell to the ground and felt solid ground hit her hard. This time though she felt as though she was falling again and couldn't move or scream anymore.

Just pain came slowly creeping over every part of her body and getting worse as the seconds ticked by.

Then as though being slapped back into reality, she was jostled hard, the pain was much more worse and evident now, and everything came back to her, sounds, feeling, movement, everything. Let alone now she was in so much pain that she couldn't find it in herself to move anything now, not even open her eyes or talk.

But it was in that moment that she heard a voice, a voice she would never forget, calling out to her.

"Emma!" He called to her, trying to see if she was still in her body after noticing she had stopped breathing before, that something was horribly wrong.

After she was shocked back to life, did she begin to breathe again, but he was still worried.

She couldn't resist trying to make some notification to him that she could hear him, so she moved her pointer and middle finger just the slightest, hoping to get his attention.

"Emma?" His voice was softer now, but still so full of worry.

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_I hope y'all like my intro, it has a lot to do with the main plot coming in the story, just have to wait to get there to see where it goes! I hope y'all enjoy and review so we cant get this story started! -Dee_


	2. Chapter 1: Ships In The Night

_I am so excited to be writing again! I really hope you all like it! So this is the beginning of the story, it will be picking up right around the time Tamara comes to town, just a few weeks later. -Dee_

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**Chapter 1- Ships In The Night**

After sending Henry off to school that morning, Emma decided to go to the diner and get some breakfast with her mom. She had called Mary Margaret and had agreed to meet her there at 8:30.

As she looked at her watch, she saw it was only 8:15 and she was already there. It was too cold outside to wait for her, so she went inside and sat at the counter till her mom got there.

As she sat down she could hear his voice, the voice she could pick out from a crowd of thousands, Neal. But then she heard her voice, the voice of the woman she couldn't like, even if she tried, Tamara.

Emma had ordered a cocoa with cinnamon from Ruby and sat in silence trying to block out their voices from her mind, she didn't want to hear them talking about their impending wedding and all the things they loved about each other, it made her sick just to think about.

She took a sip from her cocoa when Ruby placed it in front of her. She let the hot, delicious liquid sooth her throat from how cold she still was from being outside when she heard something that grabbed her interest.

"No, Neal. I can't do this anymore." Tamara said, over at the table her and Neal were seated at.

"Tamara, please." Neal said in his most fake sincere voice he could muster up.

"Neal, no. I can't stay here anymore. I told you when I first got here that I could see the way you two look at each other, and nothing has changed since then." She said taking a deep breath trying not to yell at him. "If anything, its gotten worse."

"I don't know what you're talking about..." Neal trailed off as he tried to cover up for himself but he looked down at the table, knowing though that she was probably right. He couldn't control the way he looked at Emma, everything about her grabbed his attention and made him want to watch her more.

"See, you can't even try to come up with something anymore. You love her, I think you always have. I don't belong here Neal, but you do." She said as she slid off her ring and placed it in front of him. "It's OK, I believe in true love, and I believe you two have it. Just be happy."

Neal sat there in silence, shocked at how calmly she was reacting to this, he expected more fireworks.

"I'm so sorry,... you don't have to go though." He said looking up at her and smiling at her softly.

"Like I said, I don't belong here. Its time for me to go." She said as she pulled money out to pay for their breakfast.

"No, I got it." he said as he touched her hand telling her silently to put her money away and she nodded at him.

"Well, I'm going to get going. I have to pack and get a move on, I called my boss and told him I would be back by tomorrow for work again." She said as she started to stand up. She leaned over and kissed his cheek, "Be happy Neal, that's all I want for you." She put on her jacket and grabbed her bag and went to walk away before saying, "Don't wait too long to tell her." And with that she walked out of the diner, just as Mary Margaret was entering.

Neal dropped his head into his hands as he sat there in disbelief of what just happened, he was shocked.

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Emma sat at the counter stunned, she had over heard everything that was said between Neal and his now ex-fiance and she couldn't even move as she held tightly to her now empty mug. While listening to them talk she had sipped her cocoa and ended up drinking it faster than expected.

She then felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see her mother standing there with a smile."What's wrong, I said your name and you didn't move. Are you OK?" Mary Margaret said as she looked at her daughter, who looked extremely distracted.

Emma snapped back to herself after hearing her mother ask her if she was OK, "Yeah, I'm fine. Lets get a table." She said as they both moved over to the table in the middle of the diner that they usually sat at.

She couldn't get the conversation she had just overheard out of her head though as sat across from her mother. She needed to talk to someone about this and knew the only person for this conversation was the woman sitting right in front of her.

Emma took a deep breath and looked up to her mom, "Can I talk to you about something?"

Mary Margaret looked up at her daughter and smiled softly, "Of course, Emma, you can talk to me about anything."

After fidgeting with her fingers for a moment she opened her mouth and said just barely above a whisper, "I love Neal."

Smiling and nodding, Mary Margaret took her daughters hand and said, "I know sweetie, we all do."

Emma looked up into her mothers eyes, shocked. How could she know? She hadn't told anyone, not even her son. "How did you know? And who is all?" Emma said her voice getting slightly louder than normal as she was surprised at her mothers response.

Emma's voice getting louder cause Neal to turn around and see her and her mom sitting together, and he didn't know what to do. Did she know he was there? Wouldn't she have said something to him if she had seen him? Did he want to see her right now? Who was he kidding, he always wanted to see her, even with the pain he was feeling for hurting Tamara the way he did, he still loved Emma and would always like to see her, even in the worst times.

Mary Margaret saw Neal turn around and look in their direction as Emma's voice raised. She didn't want him hearing this, so she squeezed her daughters hand in a way of telling her to keep her voice down.

"The way you two look at each other, there is nothing but love in your eyes. Even when you're mad at him, I can see it in your eyes. Its the same look your father and I give each other." She said quietly with a smile on her lips.

Emma sat silent again for a few seconds, taking in her mothers words, she had seen the looks her parents gave each other and wondered if that was really the way she looked at Neal. She then said to her, "Who all knows?"

Mary Margaret chuckled lightly, "Your father, myself, Henry, Ruby and Granny, I think all the dwarfs, probably anyone in town who has seen you two interact in the past few weeks. You can't hide true love, Ems. It just doesn't work that way."

Emma sighed, so the whole town knew, and it wasn't even something she fully admitted to herself until just a few days ago.

"Henry knows?" She asked.

"Yes. We weren't for sure about his knowledge on it until last week. He asked if I saw how much you both love each other like he sees, or if he was just wishful thinking. He is a very good observer." Mary Margaret said with a smile and a laugh.

Emma couldn't help but laugh lightly at her sons ways. She loved that kid so much. She smiled as she thought about him and then thoughts of Henry turned to thoughts of Neal and she turned around slightly to glance at Neal behind her.

She turned to face her mom again and said in a low whisper once again, "She left him."

Mary Margaret wasn't quite caught up. "Who?" She said as she went to sip her coffee and then looked at her daughter who was motioning with her eyes to where Neal was and she realized that he was all alone at the table.

She almost choked on her coffee as realization hit. "Oh! Oh my goodness. Really? When? Why?"

Emma laughed at her mothers reaction, "Yup. Just before you got here actually, she left him and gave him the ring back and went to pack." She looked down at the table, "She said he loves me and she didn't belong here but that we belonged together." She sighed.

Mary Margaret set down her mug and looked at her daughter, concerned about how she was taking this, she thought she might be happier about what was happening, but she looked too upset.

"Emma, whats wrong?"

"I can't just tell him how I feel, his fiance just left him. Its not the right time." She replied in a low voice.

Mary Margaret took her hand in hers again held it tight. "Just give it time, things will fall into place." Emma nodded at her mother and held her hand back.

After a few minutes of silence, they heard Neal get up from his table and walk to the door, stopping by them on his way out, "Emma, Mary Margaret, have a nice breakfast." He said with a smile as he then continued on out the door.

Emma looked at him and smiled and then watched as he left. "Ugh." Sh said before putting her head down on the table.

Mary Margaret couldn't take it anymore, "Go talk to him. You have kept your walls up for far too long, let them down and go to talk to him."

Thinking for a few seconds before standing up, taking a deep breathe, "Okay, I will." She smiled at her mom and squeezed her hand before letting it go. "Thank you, Mary Margaret." She said from the bottom of her heart, she loved being able to talk to her mother about things, everything made more sense when she talked to her.

Mary Margaret smiled with slight tears in her eyes and laughed softly, "Just go Emma, before he gets too far." She grinned at her daughter as Emma nodded back and dashed out the door. Her heart swelled at the feeling she got being able to share moments like these, actually any moments at all, with her daughter.

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Emma walked out of the diner into the cold breeze and went in the direction of Granny's B&B behind the diner, hoping he was going back up to his room. When she saw him she sped up to reach him just before he got to the door.

"Neal!" She yelled to get his attention.

Neal stopped walking, hands in his pockets and scarf wrapped around his neck, and turned around to Emma's voice.

He waited for her to get closer to him before talking, "What's up, Emma?" He said as she got right in front of him.

She stopped in front of him and had all these words she wanted to say, so much in her that just needed to come out, so much they needed to talk about, she didn't know where to even begin. "Can we talk?" She said as she wrapped her arms tightly around herself.

"Sure thing, lets go inside." he said as he watched her wrap herself in her arms to keep warm. He reached for the door handle and pulled it open, allowing her to enter first before following her inside.

There was no one around, both Granny and Ruby were in the diner working and Tamara had left the motel already with her things, that's why Neal had decided go back now, he saw her pack up her car and leave.

He motioned to her for them to take a seat on the couch in the waiting area, she nodded and went and sat down, him following her lead and sitting beside her. Closer than either expected but neither would complain, they loved the closeness of the other.

He looked at her then and she looked up at him, their eyes meeting. They just sat there and looked at each other for a minute, needing to talk, but both of their minds not sure what to say.

He finally broke the silence, "So, what did you want to talk about?" He said as he looked down at his hands that were folded together in his lap.

She looked at him, so much to say, she needed to tell him how sorry she was for what happened with Tamara, she needed to tell him she loved him, she missed him, she still wanted to yell at him, she wanted to know what led him to everything that had happened in the past, she just wanted to know all of it and say it all, but when he looked at her again, her mind went blank.

She didn't know what was happening next, she seemed to have just lost control of what her body was doing. She was leaning in to him fast and kissing him hard right on his lips. Just as she was about to pull away, realizing that she had just lunged in and kissed him, he responded to the kiss.

They had continued to kiss each other hard with passion, no words being needed at the moment, but too many words that were now needed to be said as well.

Both lost in the kiss, they let themselves forget about everything else and enjoy it until they ran out of air and pulled apart. Both shocked and stunned at what just happened, but neither wanting to ruin it just yet, they stayed close, looking into each others eyes, staying silent for just a few more seconds before reality came crashing back down on them.

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_Well, there it is! The first chapter! I hope it is all that you guys hoped for! Let me know your thoughts! I am really excited to continue this story! You guys as readers make writing it that much more fun do! 3 -Dee_


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